Complement Requirement for Virus Neutralization by Antibody and Reduced Serum Complement Levels Associated with Experimental Equine Herpesvirus 1 Infection

Pony foals, negative for detectable serum-neutralizing antibody to equine herpesvirus 1 by the standard tube-culture virus neutralization test, were experimentally infected with equine herpesvirus 1. Complement-requiring (CR) and non-complement-requiring (NCR) serum-neutralizing antibodies were evaluated in preinfection and postinfection sera by means of a complement-enhanced plaque reduction assay. Low levels of CR antibodies were found in the preinfection sera of only group II ponies. Upon infection, CR antibodies were detected by day 2 postinfection and reached peak titers between 7 and 14 days postinfection in the antisera of all ponies. NCR antibodies were detected later than CR antibodies and at levels approximately 40 to 150 times lower than the latter. CR/NCR ratios indicated that complement requirement was greatest early in the acute stages of disease and that this requirement decreased during the convalescent phase. Fractionation of 1-week and 2-week postinfection antisera of group I ponies indicated the CR antibody activity resided in both the 7S and 19S fractions. Total serum complement levels of the ponies were quantified throughout the infection with an equine anti-goat erythrocyte hemolytic system. In vivo, complement levels were depressed for all ponies during the first 2 weeks of infection. A decline in complement levels was seen as early as day 2, and they decreased to an average of 35% of preinfection levels on day 10 postinfection for all ponies.